Cheltenham Thu, 13th Mar, 2025  Fact To File It was a hell of a field and he won very easily, he’s a proper horse. They went a good gallop and he just stayed with them and got his jumping right and coming off the bend I don’t think Mark was worried, he just needed to get over the last two fences and he did that well. It’s a surprise the manner he has won it and I was hoping coming here he was good enough to win it and he would win it, but when you’ve got Il Est Francais and Protektorat in the field, they are good horses and horses of a lifetime for some people. He was able to beat them like that, which is huge. Every day of the week, I think he would be the one to give Galopin Des Champs the biggest problems, I do, and he was in the Gold Cup but we felt it was better to bide our options and let him come to this race. He could be a Gold Cup horse next year and he will be a year older, we just felt at this stage of his career, a hard race in the Gold Cup if it turned up soft is not what he wants. That was the way our thinking was all season and JP was very pro that, we just didn’t want him to have a hard race in a Gold Cup, as sometimes that can ruin a horse’s career. I’m not going to talk about two-year plans after Lossiemouth, but I imagine that’s where he will be going next year.

Cheltenham Thu, 13th Mar, 2025  Fact To File It was a hell of a field and he won very easily, he’s a proper horse. They went a good gallop and he just stayed with them and got his jumping right and coming off the bend I don’t think Mark was worried, he just needed to get over the last two fences and he did that well. It’s a surprise the manner he has won it and I was hoping coming here he was good enough to win it and he would win it, but when you’ve got Il Est Francais and Protektorat in the field, they are good horses and horses of a lifetime for some people. He was able to beat them like that, which is huge. Every day of the week, I think he would be the one to give Galopin Des Champs the biggest problems, I do, and he was in the Gold Cup but we felt it was better to bide our options and let him come to this race. He could be a Gold Cup horse next year and he will be a year older, we just felt at this stage of his career, a hard race in the Gold Cup if it turned up soft is not what he wants. That was the way our thinking was all season and JP was very pro that, we just didn’t want him to have a hard race in a Gold Cup, as sometimes that can ruin a horse’s career. I’m not going to talk about two-year plans after Lossiemouth, but I imagine that’s where he will be going next year.

Punchestown Sun, 24th Nov, 2024  Fact To File What a race! I was trying to keep an eye on them all and I think it’s a testament to the race that the horse that tried to keep up with Galopin Des Champs, Grangeclare West, had to pull up before the last and he still ran on to finish third. I thought we were beaten when Spillane’s Tower came up alongside us halfway up the run-in so it just shows that he’s made that leap from novice company to senior company that he could pull out more. I love that in a horse that he could pull out a bit extra to get home. Mark said he took a blow but stayed on well to win. He’s over 17 hands but an athletic horse with it. He has a lovely temperament and true grit. It was a hell of a race, and I think all these horses are going to win big races between now and the end of the season. It’s fantastic that Punchestown have brought the race back to this time of the season and all these horses can recover in time to run around Christmas. I don’t know where they will go next but Fact To File and Galopin Des Champs could both run at Leopardstown. Some of the ones behind could run at Tramore (on New Year's Day).